First, the good news. A recent Robert Half Technology survey of 100 New York businesses showed that 86 percent of chief information officers are planning to hire information-technology professionals in the first half of this year. This is 3 percentage points higher than national expectations for hiring.

“I’ve been through a couple of these [economic] downturns and when you come out of a downturn, technology generally leads the way,” explains Tom Borghesi, New York district president of Robert Half Technology, an information-technology recruitment firm.

“I get contacted at least two to three times a week for a job opportunity, and I’m not even actively looking,” says Jamie Molina, director of information technology at StriVectin, a beauty company.

Molina does the hiring of tech talent for his company. He is also the vice president of communications at the New York City chapter of HDI, a worldwide professional association for the technical service and support industry, supported in part by Robert Half Technology. Molina admits that it is difficult to find suitable candidates.

In particular, tech jobs that include relationship and service management are on the rise, says Molina.

According to the study, the jobs particularly in demand locally are Windows/Systems Administrator, Network Administrator and Desktop Support Analyst, with salaries ranging from around $70,000 to $140,000.

So what’s the downside of this rosy outlook?

For one thing, the salaries in this field are high because the talent pool is shallow. Even so, the barriers to entry are rising instead of falling. Job requirements and expectations are in flux.

Certifications, in security and global management, for instance, along with years of experience, are highly regarded and increasingly expected.

“There was a point in time where if you wanted to get into IT, you just [went] into technical school. Now, there are so many types of barriers to entry. People are now asking for, minimum, bachelors degree and some certification,” says Molina.

Back to the bright side: “There’s no way to know how long it will last, but New York City has some natural advantages. As long as we continue to have good policy from the mayor’s office, there’s good reason to think [the IT hiring boom] will continue,” predicts Michael Mandel, chief economic strategist at the Progressive Policy Institute.

A study released by Mayor Bloomberg’s Technology Summit last year found that the tech/information sector supports 262,000 jobs in the city, making it the second-biggest sector of the local economy. It brings nearly $30 billion in annual revenue to the city.

So all in all, you might say information technology is nice work — if you can get it.